Sunday, June 17, 2012

The Tea Sandwich



The tea sandwich is an essential part of afternoon tea. Even with an assortment of cookbooks and recipe files, I often find that I rely upon basic recipes that are in my head and put together by rote. There's nothing wrong with that, but sometimes it is helpful to kick things up a bit and try something new. Adding one or two new foods to each tea presentation helps one develop their repertoire. And over time those new ideas become a part of the routine.


Here's a recipe for Cream Cheese & Banana Tea Sandwiches. This recipe is plant-based vegan, but you can  easily replace dairy and egg ingredients for the vegan options below:


Cream Cheese and Banana Tea Sandwiches


1 cup Tofutti cream cheese (available at health food stores or many supermarkets)
1/4 cup soy milk, plain (available in most supermarkets)
2 bananas, ripe
1/4 cup Vegenaise (available at health food stores or many supermarkets)


Mix the Tofutti cream cheese and soy milk together until creamy. Then add the bananas, mashed. Spread Vegenaise on raisin bread or your favorite whole grain bread. Remove crusts and cut into quarters (diamond shape). Garnish with a coin of sliced banana and a mint leaf. 

Enjoy!



Photo:  My cookbook bookcase that keeps getting filled with teacups and teapots! There is a constant ebb and flow as I try to retain the space for cookbook use! The tea cozy (bottom, left) is from Marilyn at Delights of the Heart - Marmalady Tea.


7 comments:

  1. Sounds good but can't get any of those ingredients here. Many of the hotels here have a special high tea that they serve. So nice to go with friends and chat the afternoon away. I just made some cookies with chickpeas as a base. Who knew! Have a great day. Tammy

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  2. For my son's wedding reception, my daughter made a variety of delicious baked sandwiches.

    However, what we ran out of were the tea sandwiches I had made! I think most people love them.

    I'm always looking for new tea sandwich recipes.

    My favorite is a simple cucumber sandwich where I've cut the cucumber very thin and then marinated it just a little while in seasoned rice vinegar (or regular vinegar with a little sugar).

    I put a little dill in room temp cream cheese and whip it up, then put a layer on good bread with the cucumbers on top, then another slice of bread.

    I cut off the crusts and then cut across the bias, and cut each down the middle again to make four triangles.

    We also served a simple egg salad tea sandwich and a ham with thinly sliced Havarti cheese.

    Hmmmm... I'm getting hungry. :)

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  3. Love, LOVE the spin on "can easily be made vegan" to the opposite. ;-) I'm not vegan, but we eat that way often.

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  4. Definitely sounds interesting, La Tea Dah. Hope you are having a delightful day. Susan

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  5. Thanks for mentioning the tea cozy. My goodness but you have a neat and tidy cupboard even with the assortment of things inside.

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  6. Anonymous11:54 PM

    Love the Scrabble words!

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  7. Anonymous3:48 AM

    I love the Scrabble words! Are those real eggs? The reason I ask is because at the grocery store here in England, eggs are not refrigerated - they are found in the baking aisle by the sugar, flour, etc. Took me awhile to figure that out! I must admit, though, that once home, I refrigerate them.

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